CARY, N.C. (March 21, 2025) — The North Carolina Courage are set to take the field at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park for the first time this season on Saturday, March 22, at 7 p.m. ET, taking on Seattle Reign FC.
Following the match, the Courage will induct legendary forward Jessica McDonald into the club’s Ring of Honor alongside 2024 inductee Sam Mewis, who will be in attendance to help honor McDonald. Tickets for the match are available here. McDonald will be available for autographs and a meet-and-greet at FanFest at 5:30 p.m. ET.
The Courage and Reign drew their season openers over the weekend, with both teams benefiting from second-half goals from their U-20 USWNT stars. Riley Jackson bagged the Courage’s equalizer against Racing Louisville, while Emeri Adams leveled things in Seattle against Gotham. The duo were teammates with the U.S. in last year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The goal was Jackson’s second in a Courage kit, with the first also coming at Lynn Family Stadium as a late equalizer in the NWSLxLiga MX Femenil Summer Cup. Saturday’s goal was her first of her regular-season career.
The Courage dominated the ball last Saturday’s rain-soaked draw, holding 67.8% of the possession, the third-highest possession total in club history and seventh most in the entire NWSL since Opta began tracking stats in 2016. North Carolina also held a narrow 15-13 edge in shots.
“The team is in a good frame of mind. We came away from the Louisville game with a lot of positives. There was about a 15 or 20 minute spell within the game where we thought we struggled. There are parts of the performance that can get better, but there were a lot of parts of the performance that were really good. The second half specifically, we were able to control the game in the opposition half and create some decent chances,” assistant coach Nathan Thackeray said.
The match marked Courage debuts for Jaedyn Shaw, Hannah Betfort, and Shinomi Koyama. Betfort was dangerous as a sub with two chances created and six touches in the opposition box in 34 minutes of action.
Goalkeeper Casey Murphy also had a standout performance in the rain, making six saves, including multiple highlight reel-worth diving stops and quick-reaction blocks. She’ll look to continue her stellar play this weekend against her former side.
The Courage have been a dominant force at home under Head Coach Sean Nahas with a 20-9-9 regular season record at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park since 2022. They carried an undefeated home season all the way to final match of 2024 before a narrow loss to the Washington Spirit and will look ready to start a new streak on Saturday.
Seattle has no shortage of offensive firepower with forward Jordyn Huitema and midfielder Ji So-Yun, but the Reign were without marquee offseason addition and former Courage star Lynn Biyendolo (nee Williams) for their season opener, with the forward missing out due to a lower leg injury.
Courage Country is familiar with what Biyendolo can do, with the forward scoring a club-record 42 goals during her five seasons with the team.
With both teams sitting on one point following the opening weekend and just three teams across the league claiming a win in Week 1, Saturday has an opportunity to be an early tone-setter for the Courage in 2025.
